How warm should a house be?!

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Are you a polar bear, perchance?

sponix

[Rob Morley]

ITYF that research has been available for several months, and relates to perception of *pain* caused by cold rather than "feeling chilly". So maybe rather than shattering the notion that Celts are hardy it's actually a genetic mutation to reduce the risk of frostbite.

[Andy Pandy]

Thanks for the clarification. I'll have to point out to my wife that she in no danger of frostbite, sat on the sofa in a centrally heated room, watching TV. Mind you, it did kind of support her complaint that dentists never give her enough anaesthetic first time.

Andy

[Andy Pandy]

Slide the tube up a bit. :-)

Andy

[Mary Fisher]

No, but I'm uncomfortable when it's over 15C.

Things have been much better in our house since we (that is Spouse, at my urging) fitted thermostatic valves to the radiators.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

You know how ALL women are?

Of course you don't. In your experience it might be true but your opinion, humble or not, is not.

Mary

[Dave]

With respect, Mary, it's not a question of teaching, believe me I've tried. It's simply the case that SWMBO likes it warmer than I do, and reading some of the other responses to this thread it seems she's not alone! Maybe women are like cats and men like dogs - at least IME - our cat always basks in the sun whilst the dog finds the shady spot...

Dave

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 19 Sep 2005, Lobster wrote

-snip-

My wife and I seem to agree on 20-21 as our standard.

[Mary Fisher]

Ah - but you said she had no concept of how thermostats work ...

I'm sure she's not. Some women - and some men - prefer to be warmer than others. It's not peculiar to women - but that wasn't your point when you talked about not understanding how thermostats work.

That's notpeculiar to women either, I know some men who don't understand. I don't complain about them because they don't live here. Only one was still at home in 1984 when we installed CH and he'd already been taught (so had the others but that's a different matter).

The reason we installed CH was that Spouse had a heart attack and got a lot of chest pain when breathing cold air, especially when he was asleep. He even gave up his beloved motorbike in favour of the more comfortable atmosphere of four wheels. I didn't complain about either because it was for his sake.

The CH is controlled only by thermostats, our lives are too haphazard for the timer to be convenient.

These days he'd rather put on more clothes than have a high air temperature and has gone back to a scooter.

Mary

[PeTe33]

Heh.... ladies,thin blouses and an artificially "broken" heating system.

I s'pect there would be more than just "a" nip in the air!

:¬))

[Richard Faulkner]

I have my thermostat set to between 21C and 23C - 20 is a little chilly, and 24 is too hot.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A generalization means just that. There will always be exceptions by nature. And you're an exceptional woman. ;-)

[Dave]

Pedant :-) She doesn't /appear/ to- despite my explaining to her how they work - actually that's probably not quite true, she's not daft, just likes to be in control - and winding the thermostat up full means she's in control of the boiler!

We had the 'technical' discussion about it when we were in the car (she's just wound the a/c up full and I objected). It seems that, for her at least, the hysterisis inherent in the system leads to too much variation in temperature. As far as I'm concerned it works fine and I very rarely feel any variation - if I start to feel too warm in the house I simply re-adjust the thermostat. Life's too short!

Dave

[Andy Pandy]

No, she's just as pedantic as all the rest ! ;-)

Andy

[Mary Fisher]

In fact that's a very good idea. If my feet are warm the rest of me is hot.

I hate having hot feet, which is one reason I wear sandals all year round except on the scooter in very cold weather.

But many people - men as well as women - think that appearance is more important than comfort and safety.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Ah - a technical discussion.

I can imagine it :-)

What - all the time???

Buy her some fiur lined boots and a mink coat. T'wouldn't work with me - but nor do 'technical discussions'

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

I didn't know that I was any more exceptional than anyone else. We're all individuals, nobody's the same. Well, that will probably bring on examples of idential twins, in my experience even they have differences. If they didn't their parents wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

You still don't know about all women. My experience of how women perceive temperture is different from yours. What does that mean?

Mary

[Pete C]

Hi,

Maybe get your blood pressure checked, if high it can lead to feeling too hot as your heart pumps harder to move the blood around your body.

Also if overweight the extra bodymass makes your body generate more heat as you move around.

What temperature are your rooms heated to BTW? With my parents it's the other way round to you and your SWMBO.

cheers, Pete.

[nightjar]

Although those are the recommended temperatures, I find them far too cold.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But you're rather rare in posting to uk.d-i-y? The vast majority are blokes. Apart from IMM, obviously. Gawd knows what it is. Perhaps Zog doesn't have sexes.

Seems that most here agree that females seem to want higher temperatures than males - in general. I'm not making any judgments based on this. ;-)